Agas mixtures containing 85 mole % of methane and the balance of oxygen is to be charged into
an evacuated well-insulated 10-liter reaction closed (a hint for your calculations of heat
management! ) vessel at 25°c and 200 kpa. an electrical coil in the reactor, which delivers heat
at a rate of 100 w, will be turned on for 85 seconds and then turned off. as a reference state take
all molecules as gases at 25°c. formaldehyde will be produced in the reaction:
ch4(g) + o2(g) ® hcho(g) + h2o(g)

a) calculate the maximum pressure that the reactor is likely to have to withstand, assuming
there are no side reactions. if you were ordering the reactor, why would you specify an
even greater pressure in your order? give at least two reasons.
b) why would heat be added to the feed mixture rather than running the reactor
adiabatically?

c) suppose the reaction is run as planned, the reaction products are analyzed
chromatographically, and some co2 is detected. where did it come from? if you had
taken this co2 into account, would your calculated pressure in part a) have been larger,
or smaller, or you cannot tell without doing the detailed calculations?